EU, others move against militarisation, violence in Niger Delta

THE European Union, Search for Common Ground and other peace- building partners have started moves to end militarisation, violence and criminality in the Niger Delta region.

Particularly worried about the militarisation in Okuama, Okoloba communities in Delta State and Igbomotoru 2 in Bayelsa State, the Information Management Coordinator for Search for Common Ground- EU funded project, Sunny Dada, stressed the need for inclusive corroborative framework between communities, state and nonstate actors in the region. According to Dada, what happened in the above named communities was as a result of lack of corroborative framework between the community and state actors, which made the security agencies to move in for reprisals.

Dada, who spoke, yesterday, in Port Harcourt at the capacity building of 30 youths from 16 communities in Rivers State on conflict transformation, organised by Search for Common Ground with funds from EU, explained that if community actors could work in a way to show that they had capacity to provide local solutions to conflict issues, network and arrest the people who killed the solders, the state actors would not have moved in to the communities to perpetuate the condemnable acts.

Recall that about 16 soldiers were recently killed by suspected hoodlums in the two Delta communities, which forced the military to move into the communities for reprisal. Dada noted that the EU- funded project titled, ‘ A community- centred approach to transforming criminality and violence in the Niger Delta region ‘ was aimed at fostering inclusive community collaboration against conflict drivers and create a collaborative platform for everyone to build peace.

He said: “We are worried about the militarisation in the Niger Delta region; if we are not worried as peace building partners, we will not be doing this. We have the militarisation in the region because over time, communities have not shown capacities to respond to this conflict drivers alone; it means they will need the support of state actors to work with them.